2015 Awards: Feud of the Year
This is another one that doesn’t have a lot of options this year but the top choices are good.
As usual, we’ll knock out the honorable mentions first.
Brock vs. Undertaker had two good to awesome matches with a Match of the Year candidate inside the Cell. My big problem with this one is how it started up again. The Undertaker coming out and costing Brock the title didn’t work for me as it took him a year and a half to come back and go after Brock with the World Champion getting sacrificed to set it up. That and the messy ending to their Summerslam match. It was such a disaster.
That’s about it for the honorable mentions actually. Like I said, it’s not the best year.
One of the two big ones is of course Kevin Owens vs. John Cena with the whole battle of different roads to get to the top level. This one was carried by the promos but Owens winning made the whole thing a huge success. I know a lot of people say that Owens losing the last two matches killed it, but Owens would win the Intercontinental Title later in the year and could easily be a main event player by the time Summerslam rolls around. How much of that do you think is due to the first win over Cena?
The other option is Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, which just worked on every level. You had the perfect good vs. bad style with two awesome matches (I still swoon over that Bank Statement reversal) and it main evented a Takeover. That alone is remarkable and the fact that they brought Izzy into it and MADE HER CRY was one of the best heel moves I’ve seen in years.
Picking a winner here is splitting hairs, but I have to go with Owens vs. Cena, just due to the shock of that first win. Bayley winning was an amazing moment but it was also obvious from the second she got the title shot. The surprise of Owens pinning Cena in a great match on pay per view was such a stunning moment and is enough to pull this forward.
That being said, it’s rather sad that there are so few feuds these days. Everything is about setting up a rubber match or for a title. It’s so rare to see a good personal feud but when they work, they’re as entertaining as anything wrestling can produce. Now why can’t WWE produce more of them?
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” I know a lot of people say that Owens losing the last two matches killed it.”
It certainly didn’t help.
“but Owens would win the Intercontinental Title later in the year”
Yay like that title means anything anymore. He already lost the thing anyhow.
and could easily be a main event player by the time Summerslam rolls around”
This part is true, Though you can’t deny him losing twice afterwards derailed the momentum. He could have been a main eventer much sooner. I don’t think anything would have been lost by allowing Owens to get the better of him. Then you have Cena get his win back say a year later If you must. Not only do you have a brand new star right out of the gate. You have a match for later.
How much of that do you think is due to the first win over Cena? Meh after losing twice do you see him on Cena’s level?
It didn’t help but it certainly didn’t kill it. The first win is what matters. Look at Mick Foley for instance.
He has indeed lost it, but I’d rather him have a short title reign than get the Tyler Breeze or Ascension treatment.
I never saw him on Cena’s level in the first place. No one is on that level.
Has KB forgotten about Lucha Underground? It had a bunch of crazy feuds throughout the season.
I would go with Bayley vs. Sasha for two reasons. One, it had the better booking and it felt like a complete story. Two, there’s speculation that Owens jobbed to Cena twice, not because it was planned, but because Cena’s merch sales plummeted after the first match, and WWE panicked and made Cena win the rematches as a result.